A State Funeral for Professor the Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO will be held at St James’ Church, King Street, Sydney on Wednesday, 4 February 2026 at 10:30am.
The service will celebrate the remarkable life of Dame Marie, who served as the first female Governor of New South Wales from 2001 to 2014, bringing to the role immense dignity and compassion.
In 2014, Dame Marie was made a Dame of the Order of Australia for extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit in service to the administration, public life, and people of New South Wales, to medicine, particularly as an advocate for improved mental health outcomes for the young, marginalised and disadvantaged, to international relations, through the promotion of collaborative health programs, and as a leader in tertiary education.
As a mark of mourning and respect, and in accordance with protocol, the Australian National Flag should be flown at half-mast all day on Wednesday 4 February 2026 in New South Wales only from all buildings and establishments occupied by Australian Government departments and affiliated agencies. Other organisations are welcome to participate.
When flying the Australian National Flag with other flags, all flags in the set should be flown at half-mast.
- If a set of flags includes the flags of other nations, it would be appropriate to seek permission from the diplomatic representatives of that nation to half-mast their flag.
- An acceptable half-mast position would be when the top of the flag is a third of the distance down from the top of the flagpole.
- Information on flag protocol is available at http://www.pmc.gov.au/flag
Your assistance is appreciated.
Commonwealth Flag Officer